The Night Before
by Vesica
Summary: Almost certain death does funny things to a person. It made Faith bolder - bold enough to go after what she really wanted. Set within Chosen. (Faith&Giles)


**TITLE:** The Night Before  
**AUTHOR:** Vesica  
**PAIRING:** Faith/Giles  
**RATING:** R  
**DISCLAIMER:** I am just mucking about in other people's sandboxes. I have no legal claim to these characters.  
**AUTHOR'S NOTE:** Written for the LJ community Buffyverse1000 and their quest to get 1000 drabbles featuring 1000 unique Buffyverse pairings. 

* * *

Faith waited until she was sure Wood was asleep. It had been…amusing but fucking him had only reminded her of what she really wanted. Padding quietly down the hall, she could feel the tension and fear hanging over the house. Maybe they would all live to see another day and maybe not.  
  
She found him asleep in the kitchen, perched precariously on a stool, a mug of tea cooling on the counter next to his head. Suddenly, seeing him there, she had second thoughts. She had thought about this plenty of times but that had been mostly on lonely nights in prison. Somehow it was different when he was right in front of her.  
  
He mumbled in his sleep and shifted slightly, unable to find a comfortable way to sleep sitting up. He leaned a bit too far and the stool started to tip. Without thinking, Faith moved to catch him. She overcorrected and, in trying to keep him from toppling the other direction, ended up sprawling them both across the linoleum. Of course, now she had a mostly-awake Watcher on top of her, so _really_ it hadn't gone that badly.  
  
Giles groaned as he opened his eyes. "I assure you, waking up to the sensation of a floor rushing towards one is not the most pleasant experience."  
  
"Sorry, you were falling off that stool and I..."  
  
"Thought you would save me the trouble of falling by wrestling me to the floor?"  
  
"No." Faith frowned. _This was such a stupid idea..._  
  
"Faith."  
  
"Yes?"  
  
His mind slowly made it far enough into consciousness to register Faith's hands in rather inappropriate places. "Perhaps you should let go of me."  
  
_Oops._ She seized the chance to cop a feel before releasing her death grip on him. He crawled off her, moving to sit with his back against the cabinets. She had no idea why but being here, actually going through with this was making her almost giddy with nerves. She was never nervous - about anything. But Giles...he meant a lot to her.  
  
"Why are you awake? I thought you and Wood..." he asked, trying to rub the kinks out of his neck.  
  
"He's asleep," she shrugged.  
  
"Oh."  
  
They sat in uncomfortable silence. Faith wasn't sure how to put any of what she wanted to say but realized that making an ass of herself was preferable to possibility of dying without at least trying.  
  
"It's this whole thing about us charging off to certain death in a few hours. It got me thinking," She knew she was fucking this up but she just kept going, unable to even look at him. "Death makes things clearer. And I was thinking...You know, about all the things I meant to do that I hadn't gotten around to and..."  
  
"Faith, I'm not going to fuck you in the middle of Buffy's kitchen if that's where this is going."  
  
"Oh." Well, damn it. At least she tried.  
  
"For starters, this floor is not very comfortable."  
  
She looked up to find him looking at her with a deliciously wicked smile.  
  
"Well, yeah. Bad location. But is that your main objection?"  
  
"I suppose there is the issue of you being a Slayer and I, a Watcher." His eyes said he was teasing but his tone was unreadable.  
  
_Might as well play along and see where this is going…_ "But you were never my Watcher."  
  
"True. There is also the fact this house is packed to the gills with underage girls trying to rest up for the most important fight of their lives."  
  
"Yeah..." No getting around that one.  
  
He stared at her, lost in his own thoughts. She tried not to fidget but he was practically staring holes through her. "Faith, did you ever pay any attention to the neighborhood when you were out training the girls?"  
  
_Well that was random._ "Besides the fact everyone's gone? I did notice some nice landscaping and a charming topiary..."  
  
He interrupted her sarcasm, "I was referring specifically to the furnished gazebo in the backyard next door."  
  
He stood and offered her a hand. Her mind was spinning, she took it. Holy fuck! He was saying yes. She wanted him to say yes but..."Giles, are you sure?"  
  
"This might be the hysteria setting in but yes. If on the eve of my almost certain death a nubile young woman who I have thought attractive for a very long time tosses herself at me, I'm not saying no." He pulled her to her feet and, her hand still in his, started towards the door. He hesitated, his other hand on the knob. "But Faith, I should warn you. You're not going to have time to go skulking around in the night, so whoever else is on that list of yours, forget them."  
  
Faith grinned. "List? What list?"


End file.
